Will Sergio Busquets retire after 2025 season? Is coaching next? What we know
The 2025 Inter Miami season is in its final stretch, and so might be the legendary playing career of midfielder Sergio Busquets.
The 37-year-old Spaniard’s contract with the club expires at the end of this season, and there have not been any hints of an extension. He is Inter Miami’s second-highest paid player behind Lionel Messi this season at $8.8 million. Busquets was noncommittal about his future when asked about it in late-August, sharing only that Inter Miami would be the final club of his career.
“I am just enjoying this stage of my career now, professionally and with my family, and I don’t have any news yet. Once there is, I will share it,” he told reporters in Fort Lauderdale last month.
Reports from Spanish sports radio network COPE this week said Busquets will retire at the end of this season.
Asked if he plans to finish his career with Inter Miami or whether he would entertain offers elsewhere, Busquets told reporters in August: “When I left Barca, I knew I wouldn’t return to Spain or Europe. I am at an age where I am closer to ending my career than continuing, but there is nothing official yet about a contract renewal or retirement. When I know that, we can speak about it in more detail.”
Busquets leads the team in minutes played (2,361) and is averaging 87 minutes per game.
Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano, asked on Tuesday about the reports of Busquets’ retirement, said: “I don’t [have an opinion]. That’s what I’ve read and heard, but nothing is official. I’m not one to go around asking players about any rumors. What I can tell you is that Sergio is fully committed to the team, to this season, and we’re focused on that, not on the rumors.”
In an interview with the Miami Herald last month, Mascherano said he feels Busquets could still be an elite player if he chooses to continue.
“Of 42 games, Busi has played 40, so that tells you how important he is to me and the team,” Mascherano said. “I speak with him a lot because in addition to the fact that I have a good relationship with him, he is someone I have always admired. Imagine that I went to play at Barcelona to learn from him, and now, such is life, that I get to be his coach.
“What I always tell him is that he still has a lot to offer as a player. Beyond that, whatever decision he makes, or the club makes, I honestly don’t know. Nobody has told me anything. For me, he is someone who can keep playing and has shown that with the number of minutes he has played in this busy schedule.”
If Busquets decides to hang up his boots, Mascherano feels he could be a successful coach. Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique concurs. He said during the Club World Cup that the two former FC Barcelona players he coached who he believed could have futures as coaches were Mascherano and Busquets.
“As for his future, from what I know, he wants to be a coach someday, and I would think due to his name and his stature in the sport, he would want to be a head coach, not an assistant,” Mascherano said, when asked if Busquets might join Inter Miami as an assistant coach when his playing days are finished.
“But my desire is for him to keep playing because I always tell him and the other older players, there is nothing like playing. It’s a once in a lifetime chance. You can be a coach at 40, 50, or 60, but once you retire as a player, you never go back.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 7:39 PM.